Urgent action still needed on climate change. Leading up to the conclusion of this year’s United Nations climate change talks in South Africa, Supreme Master Television spoke with meeting participants. Especially highlighted was awareness of the most urgent and effective planet-cooling solution, the organic vegan diet.

Correspondent (M): It has been an intense two weeks of discussions for the United Nations delegates here in Durban, South Africa. Delegates now returning home know clearly that there is still a lot more to be done. And world citizens pray that climate change will stay high on the agenda. Climate change impacts are real and dangerous.

Dr. Andries Kruger – Chief Scientist, South African Weather Service (M): You will have a vast amount of melting of the permafrost which will release a lot of methane and carbon dioxide. And the methane is actually the biggest concern because of its powerful ability to retain heat, and absorb heat. And that has the ability to cause rapid climate change and runaway climate change, at the end.

Correspondent (M): It's also been encouraging to find that delegates are supportive of the organic vegan diet solution, given the research that warns of meat’s detrimental effects on health and the environment. The issue was even discussed by experts in several events.

Prof. Sir Andrew Haines – former Director, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (M): We often forget the food and agriculture sector – major contributor to global warming. The main driver is increasing demand for animal products, for meat and dairy. And we’ve estimated that if you could reduce animal source saturated fats in countries like the UK and Brazil, we could reduce heart disease deaths by about 15% in those two countries.

Parks Tau - Executive Mayor of Johannesburg (M): A healthy lifestyle means more vegetables. And of course, we need to encourage that.

Miracle Samuel Lekuku – South Africa activist (M): We don’t have much time! And the more we do to promote our good vegetarian lifestyle, the better it will be for our future generations.

Julie Clark – Manager, Drylands Funds, South Africa; vegetarian (F): If you’re going to revere God’s creation, you’re going to look after your own health, your family’s health, your friends’ health, do the right thing to save the Earth. You’re going to have to go vegetarian, you actually have no choice.

Dhashen Moodley – Radio producer/presenter, South African Broadcasting Corporation; vegetarian (M): It’s an organization that obviously has realized that there’s a change that we can make on a very small level, just changing what’s in your plate, can have a big impact on climate change. I think that’s very commendable.

Correspondent (M): Supreme Master Television, Durban, South Africa.

Our thanks, participating governments, organizations, scientists and individuals for your sincere endeavors toward protecting humanity from climate change. May we soon see more and more informed actions on the organic vegan way to halt global warming disasters.

During a June 2011 videoconference in Mexico, Supreme Master Ching Hai highlighted the essential advocacy of the plant-based lifestyle for governments to be able to halt climate change.

Supreme Master Ching Hai : So just this one change, simple change, small change: changing our diet to an organic vegan diet. This will help all the governments of the world to afford climate change mitigation and preserve biodiversity.

It will also help us protect food security and conserve water. What is the use for us to satisfy our taste right now with meat when we know for certain that in the future our children will go hungry, our world will collapse? What is the use of that? However tasty the meat is, we have to consider this option and change it so that the world can continue to survive and thrive in abundance and happiness and health.

In an interview on December 5, 2011, Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society international director Mark Simmonds states that human-caused ocean noise such as ship propellers, oil and gas exploration and military actions have increased underwater sounds by at least 20 decibels since 1960, affecting the well-being and even resulting in death for marine animals. http://www.france24.com/en/20111207-ocean-cacophony-torment-sea-mammals

In a December 8, 2011 report, scientists from Jerusalem University in Israel warn that the famed Dead Sea continues to diminish at an alarmingly rapid rate, saying that it may not survive another period of prolonged drought.